On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would join Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings in Utah and other states to investigate the causes of public shootings on campuses and other sites, such as the tragedy at Trolley Square, in light of the massacre at Virginia Tech.

But by Wednesday afternoon, Justice officials refused to comment on word that Gonzales would not be coming to Salt Lake City and would give no information about the trip schedule.

According to a Justice Department press release, President Bush had directed three of his top senior staff to travel to Minnesota, Colorado, Utah, Iowa, Tennessee, Texas and California, beginning today, to explore what can be learned from such tragedies.

Leavitt, Spellings and Gonzales were expected to meet with local leaders, educators, mental health experts and law enforcement officials. The issues will then be summarized in a report and presented to the president within 30 days.

On Wednesday a Department of Health and Human Services spokesman said Leavitt and Spellings would tentatively arrive in Salt Lake City on Friday but Gonzales would not be with them. Justice officials in Washington, D.C., refused comment about the visit.

Officials said the trip's schedule is still up in the air.

"The pain of this tragedy is felt throughout this nation, and our hearts and prayers go out to the victims, families and friends and the entire Virginia Tech community," Leavitt, a former Utah governor, is quoted in the press release.

Thirty-two students and professors were killed earlier this month at Virginia Tech when a mentally disturbed student, Seung-Hui Cho, went on a shooting rampage, the deadliest in modern U.S. history. Cho then took his own life.

For Utahns, the campus shootings opened up fresh emotional wounds from the Feb. 12 shootings at Trolley Square in Salt Lake City that left six dead, including the gunman, Sulejman Talovic, and four wounded. Police, for some time, have been expected to release the final report on their investigation.

Leavitt added: "While our review will not answer all the questions or solve all the problems, we hope to frame up a series of issues as part of a thoughtful, national dialogue and determine where the federal government can play a role in helping states and communities avoid such tragedies in the future," Leavitt stated.

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E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com